Hen Zemi Review — D+

Hen Zemi follows a university seminar “studying” abnormal physiology. To pass the class, they need to do abnormal activities and write reports on them. It uses an arc format, where they explore a few activities at a time. As some examples, we have using a naked person as a table, earwax and sweat fetishes, secret recordings, 11-dimensional chess with second hand kisses, and plenty of sadism and masochism. I have no idea why their professor has a job.

Be warned before watching: Hen Zemi is disgusting. It goes past every social taboo, and then barrels through several more you didn’t even realize existed. It is not a show for the faint of heart.

Hen Zemi has its funny moments, but it mostly keeps your attention by being so disgusting you want to look away but can’t. It certainly does manage to keep your attention though. No one could accuse the characters of being boring, and the topics of each episode are certainly… creative.

I didn’t enjoy the TV show as much as the OVA, mainly because it was longer and less tightly scripted. Still, the episodes are half length, so there isn’t even much time to waste. Twelve half-length episodes was probably the perfect length for a show like this- full episodes would have been too much to handle at a time, and it ended right when the shock value was beginning to wear off. Another issue is that the animation is downright terrible, although honestly, I would prefer not to see most of this with better quality.

Hen Zemi isn’t a masterpiece, but it isn’t all that bad either. Take my rating with a grain of salt, though, because how much you enjoy watching Hen Zemi will largely depend on your tolerance for sexual deviance. Hen Zemi will be able to keep your attention— the main question is whether you want it to or not.

Plot / Script – 7 / 10 – Relies on shock value more than anything.

Characters – 7 / 10 – No one could accuse them of being boring, but they aren’t deep or anything and there isn’t anyone you’d want to know in real life.

Production – 4 / 10 – Atrocious animation, but that may be a blessing in disguise.

Overall – D+

Recommendations – Koe de Oshigoto, Seitokai Yakuindomo

Note: I’m still away on a trip, and will be back to a semi-regular schedule next Wednesday.